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CENTENARY SERMON, 



DELIVEliED BEFORE 



THE rilESBYTERY OF FAYETTEVILLE, 



AT TUE 



BLUFF CHURCH, 



The 18tli day of October, 1858, 



BY REV. NEILL McKAY. 



FAYETTEYILLE: 

PRINTED AT THE PRESBYTERIAN OFFICE. 

1858 



.54fA\4fc 



SERMON. 



DEriERONOMT XXXII : 7 — " Remember the days of old, consider the years of many 
generation3; ask thy father and he will sh«w thee; thy elders and they will tell 
thee!" 

In the preceding cliapter, Moses intimates to the children of 
Israel, that owing to the infirmities of age, and according to the 
Divine appointment,on account of his sin at Meribah-Kadesh, he 
could "no longer go out and come in" before them. Conse- 
quently, he resigns his office, as the inspired leader and lawgiver 
of the chosen of the Lord, and commissions Joshua to lead them 
forth to victory and to conquest. 

He then delivers the written law to the priests, the sons of 
Levi and to all the elders, to be "kept in the ark of the cove- 
nant," to be read every seven years to the men, women, chil- 
dren, and strangers. He also points out to the people the sad 
consequences of defection from duty, and the heavy curses that 
would follow their apostacy from God. In "the same day" he 
wrote tliis most seraj^hic valedictory song in the chapter before 
us, "and taught it the children of Israel." In which he makes 
a solemn appeal to heaven and earth for his fidelity, and an aw- 
ful declai-ation of the greatness of Jehovah, as manifested by the 
truth of his word — the perfection of his works — the wisdom and 
the equity of his governmeat. In the face of all which, how- 
ever, the Jews had continued to be a "perverse and a crooked 
generation," to whom he addresses the pathetic expostulation, 
" Do ye thus requite the Lord ? O foolish people and unwise ! Is 
not he thy father that hath bought tl>ce? hath he not made thee 
and established thee?" "Remember the days of old, consider 
the years of many generations; ask tliy father and he will shew 



thee: thy eldera and they will tell thee." See 12th verse. To 
remind the people of their obligation and duUj^ Moses calls upon 
them to remember tlie general and the particular instances of 
God's providential kindness and concern for them. They were 
under obligations to him, as to a father, who had begotten, nursed 
and cherished them — who had bought them, having given "men 
for them and people for their life." Isa. xliii : 4, lie refers them 
to the record of the past, carries them back to " the days of old," 
to review the history of Divine providence, in connection with 
their ancestry, and to trace the wonderful series of mercies 
" through the years of many generations," which were necessary 
for the working out of present results. For more recent displays 
of infinite wisdom and love, he refers them to living witnesses: 
" Ask thy father and he will shew thee, thy elders and they will 
tell thee." For although Caleb and Joshua alone remained of " all 
who came out of Egypt by Moses," the fathers and the elders of 
that gcTieration, in childhood and youth, had witnessed the awful 
grandeur attending the giving of the law on Sinai, and had 
heard its proclamation at the foot of the mount. They had been 
accustomed to follow both as a guide and as a defence, the pillar 
of cloud by day and of fire by night. The alternate scenes of 
success and defeat, which marked their pilgrimage in a "desert 
land, and in the waste howling wilderness," were fresh in their 
memory. They could not so soon forget the God of Jacob, who 
had "taught them out of his law," who had "led them forth by 
the right way," who had " given them his good Spirit to instruct 
them," and had " kept them as the apple of his eye." 

The history of the Israelites in all its leading characteristics, 
where the wisdom, fidelity and love of God are involved, may be 
justli/ considered as a fair index of what he has heen, is, and will 
be to all his covenanted people. It may be as truly said of the 
church NOW, and at any given period of her history, as it was of 
" the church in the wilderness," (x\cts vii : 38.) " The Lord's por- 
tion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance." In every 
age they may be said to be found of him — found in a desert land 
and in a waste howling wilderness, in a most destitute and help- 
less condition — in depravity, ignorance and sin, in love with spir- 
itual bondage, lulled in false security and criminal indifierence. 
In this melancholy condition, God is represented as doing for 
them what the strong affection of the eagle induces her to do for 



her young. "As an eagle stirretli up lier nest, fluttcreth orer 
her young, spreadclh abroad lier wings," so the Lord alone did 
load liim, and there wjls no strange God with him. So also, says 
tlie A])ostle, quoting i'roni the mouth of the Prophet, '*I was 
found of them that sought me not, I was made manifest to them 
that asked not after me." "It is not by might nor by power, 
but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." "Whose office it is to con- 
vince the world of sin, of rigJdeousness and of judgment." "When 
the chosen of the Lord are thus gathered in by the word, the Spi- 
rit and the providence of God, they are one body in Christ, which 
manifests its visil)le existence and unity according to the form 
given by himself, when he ascended up on high, led captivity 
captive, and gave gifts unto men, "some apostles, some ])rophets, 
some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers," all which of- 
fices, excepting that which was extraordinary and temporary, are 
now recognized by the Presbyterian church and lilled by appro- 
priate officers. It is matter of gratitude to the Great Head of 
the church, as well as just congratulation among ourselves, that 
this Presbyterian form of ecclesiastical polity has for now these 
eighteen QQi\i\\v\QQ success/ uUy i\.\\(\ triumphantly \\\i\\&{oo(\. every 
form of opposition, error, ignorance and malice. It could not 
be extinguished during the long night of spiritual darkness that 
brooded over Christendom anterior to the lleformation. At the 
very dawn of that remarkable epoch in the history of the church 
and of the world, the distinguishing characteristics of the true 
church of God appeared. " "With the apostolic truth, came also, 
in Switzerland, in France, in llnlland, in Poliemia, in Germany, 
and in Scotland, the apostolic form of ecclesiastical order." 

From these countries the elements of the Presbyterian church 
in America were mainly derived. "The strict Presbyterian em- 
igrants, Scotch, Irish, Dutch, and French, laid the foundation of 
onr church in ^ew York, East Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, 
and the Carolinas."'^ The history of the first regular ordained 
Presbyterian minister that visited the western continent, is traced 
to the Presbyterian church in Ireland, which owes its existence 
to the indefatigable efibrts of seven Scotch mmisters, who, as 
chaplains, attended as many regiments sent over from Scotland 
in the spring of 1042 to quell the Irish rebellion. These ministers 

• Dr. Hodgo His. Prcg. Ch. 



not only formeirt'onr churches in tlie different regiments, but ac- 
tually constituted a regular presbytery in the army itself, in ac- 
cordance with the doctrines and polity of the Church of Scot- 
land. In the year 1GS2, just forty years after the constitution of 
this presbytery in the army, the Presb,ytery of Lagan, in the 
!North of Ireland, and one of nine presbyteries which had grown, 
out of the increase and division of the original presbytery, licen- 
sed and ordained Francis McKemie for the purpose of sending 
him to America ; who, with six other ministers, constituted the 
lirst presbytery in this country, all of whom, with a single ex- 
ception, were either from Scotland or Ireland. By far the greater 
number of those who formed the first synod on this continent 
were of the same origin. 

It is not remarkable, then, that "American Presbyterianism 
is essentially the same as that of Scotland."* 

According to the infi^rmation of most, and in fact of all of those 
consulted by us, who have given to the public, either a general 
or partial history of the Presbyterian church in this country, the 
first Presbyterian church was organized in Philadelphia about 
the year 169S, and four others about the same time on the East- 
-ern shore of Maryland. Dr. Howe shows, however, from the 
record^ that a church ^existed in Charleston as early as 1682, 
^' which in its early records is habitually called the Presbyterian 
church, but in which Congregationalists, Dissenters and Presby- 
terians worshipped," which is now perpetuated in the Circular 
church of that city. He also shows that the French Huguenot 
church of Charleston, the first that was purely Presbyterian in 
that State, " was gathered as early as 1686." This Southern wing 
of the Presbyterian church was quite independent in the forma- 
tive period of her history in this country, and was not formally 
connected with the General Assembly until the commencement 
of the present century. For the lineal history of the American 
Presbyterian church, we must commence with McKemie and his 
compeers, who, as already intimated, first visited the country in 
1682, gathered and organized the first churches about the time 
already stated, and constituted the Presbytery of Philadelphia 
in 1705, which was divided in 1716 into four subordinate judi- 
catories, and formed the Synod of Philadelphia, which divided 

* Dr. Hodge. 



in 1741, making the Synod of New York and the Synod of Phil- 
adelphia. In 1758 these Synods reiinitod and formed the Synod 
of Phihidclphia and New York, wl,uch remained the supreme 
judicatory of the church until 1788, when, by unanimous con- 
sent, this body was dissolved, four Synods were formed, and the 
General Assembly was constituted.* 

In 1758 the Presbytery of Ilauover was formed. In 1770 the 
Presbytery of Orange was set olf from that of Ilauover. In 1812 
Orange was divided, and the Presbytery of Fayettevillo was 
formed, t 

This brief and partial historical synopsis, culled mainly from 
the documentary history of the church, brings us to a most eli- 
gible stand point; the commencement of our existence as a 
Presbytery, whence we may look back, four and Jifty years, to 
the organization of Presbyterianism in our bounds, and forward 
six and forty years — the entire period of our Presbyterial exist- 
ence — and thus advantageously survey God's providential deal- 
ings with us both as a Church and as a Presbytery /o/' aii entire 
century. In recurring to the first establishment of the Presby- 
terian Church in the bounds of the Presbytery of Fayetteville, 
and, in fact, in North Carolina, we must go back to the records 
of the past, to " the days of old," and review the history " of the 
years of many generations ;"' while in reference to our Presby- 
terial history, we need only ask our father and he will show us ; 
our elders and they will tell us. 

According to the historian Bancroft.:}; there was no stationed 
preacher of any persuasion in Nurth Carolina anterior to 1705. 
The first Presbyterian Missionaiy in North Carolina, so far as 
•we are now informed, was William Ilol)inson, from A'irginia, 
•who made a short and not very successful tour in a portion of 
the State, in the winter of 1742 and '43 ; of the labors and suc- 
cess of others who followed him we have no definite information 
nntil the visit of Hugh McAden in the summer of 1755. In his 
extensive tour through the State, he visited and preached at 
many stations, meeting houses, and some few churches ; clearly 
showing that some now unknown pioneer missionaries had pre- 

* Records of the Presbyterian Chureh. 

f " BopinninK at the mouth of the \cii-ie River, thence up said river to the mouth 
of Trent River, thence in a direct line to the junction of Hcep and Haw Rivers, thence 
in a direct line to the mouth of the Uwharcc.'' 

X Vol 2; p. 164. 



8 

ceded him. This inference has recently ripened into fiict, bj 
the published statements in reference to " the pioneer and apos- 
tle of AVestern North Carolina, Rev. John Thompson.* 

After McAden crossed the Uwharee, and thus entered the 
bounds of our Presbytery, until he crossed the Xeuse and left 
our borders, in all his incessant travels and labors for two months 
and a half, he makes no mention of any public place of worship 
other than the Court House. Anion oj other localities he visited 
the Scotch settlements on the Cape Fear and its tributaries, be- 
came pretty well acquainted with the character, habits and ne- 
ces?ities of the people ; and it was mainly through his influence 
on his return to the North, that the Rev. James Campbell, then 
laboring in Pennsylvania, was induced to visit his countrymen 
in this section in 1757. The subsequent year he was called to 
the pastorate, as appears from the records of the County Court of 
Cumberland.f The call is dated the 18th day of October, 175S, 
and signed by twelve individuals under covenant, seal, &c. That 
this call was accepted is clear from documentary evidence : 1st, 
from the fact that Mr. Campbell subsequently united with the 
Presbytery of Orange ; 2, that he subscribed the test oath, as re- 
quired by law, in open court, as appears from the same record ; 
and, 3rd, that a duplicate of the first call was presented in the 
year 17C3, (30th April,) excepting that part which depended 
upon the contingency of the acceptance of the same. 

At the time this contract was entered into with Mr. Campbell, 
there were no organized churches in our bounds. lie preached 
at McKay's, on the Long-street ; Clark's, on Barbecue; McNeill's, 
on the west side ot the Cape Fear, below the Bluff; at Dushee 
Shaw's, a few miles above Averasboro', on the east side of the 
same river and at the mouth of Lower Little River, the former 
county seat of Cumberland. He also made occasional visits to 
Cross Creek, the Raft Swanq),and other destitute settlements. 

The pastoral charge of Mr. Campbell soon assumed a more 
definite form, in the organization of Long-street, Barbecue and 
Blufi' churches, which were organized in the year 1758. Dr. 
Foote's information is, that ''Long-street church was built about 
the year 1705 or 'CG, the time at which Barbecue was built," and 
that the "Bluff church was not built nntil after the death of Mr. 



* iV. C. Prcsbt/tcridi}, Vol. 1 : No. 39. 
f Register's Office, Book A, p. 349. 



Cam])bcll, about the year ITST." In the first named church the 
iirst ruling Elders were Malcolm Smith, Archibald McKay, and 
Arcliil)ald Hay. In the second Gilbert Clark, Duncan Buie, 
Archibald linic, and Daniel Cameron. In the third. Hector 
McNeill, Alexander McxVlister, Farquar Campbell, and Duncaa 
McNeill. 

To these men and their associates, many of whose names ap- 
])ear on the bonds already referred to, given to Mr. Cam[)bell, 
the honor is due of making the first formal call for the pastoral 
services of a Presbyterian minister in North Carolina ; which, 
under all the circumstances, was no less complimentary to the 
pastor elect than honorable to themselves. They may also be 
considered as fair representatives of the then Scotch population 
wirliin our bounds, and the proper exponents of their religious 
principles and faith. They were mainly from the Highlands of 
Scotland. Their first emigration to the country dates far back 
of that attributed to them by Dr. Caruthers and others, " which 
resulted (according to his information) from the unfortunate at- 
tempt of Prince Ciiarles Edward, grandson of James II., to re- 
train tlie throne of his ancestors." Scotch families were settled 
on the Cape Fear anterior to the division of the province into 
North and South Carolina in 1720. The Clark family, who 
came to the country in 173G with a large number of emigrants, 
found many Scotch families settled along this river, among whom 
are mentioned Hector McNeill, of the IJlufF, and John Smith, 
with his two children — Malcolm and Jennet.* Neill McNeill, 
a native of Argyleshire, after visiting New York, Philadelphia, 
Wilmington, and the Cape Fear, as far up as Buck Hum, re- 
turned to Scotland in ITiS, and the following year landed in 
Wilmington with his family and a considerable number of his 
countrymen — variously estimated from three to six hundred : 
"■ Who settled, some in Anson, othei*s in Bladen, but most of 
them in Cumberland. "f From this period the tide of emigration 
increased, uutil the l[l(jUand SMch soon formed the majority 
of the population, and controlled the civil and ecclesiastical iu- 

• Dr. Footc, p. 125. 

• The celebrated .lonny Bhan, (Van) tlie fair, who, for beantv, sprifjhtliness and 
wit, was rejrardoil a.s secoml to none in the Scotch scttlenicnta, aiicl lor energy of 
character, second only to Flora McDonald herself. She wa.s united in marriage to 
Archibald McNeill. 

f Dr. Caruthers' Life of Caldwell, p. 88. 

2 



10 

terests of wliatis now Cumberland, Bladen, Robeson, Richmond, 
Montgomeiy, Moore and Harnett counties. 

In 1759, the Rev. Hugh McAden returned to the State and 
settled as pastor of the congregations in Duplin and Xew Hano- 
ver, the former probably the oldest large settlement of Presby- 
terians in the State, to which the Grove congregation trace their 
origin. 

These, with the three churches already referred to, constituted 
the organized force of the Presbyterian church in what is now 
the geographical limits of the Presbytery of Fayetteville ante- 
rior to the American Revolution. Campbell and McAden are 
justly entitled to the appellation of the jjatriarchs and fathers of 
Presbyterianism in our bounds, if not in the State. They la- 
bored almost alone in the extensive field, which in the provi- 
dence of God we are called to cultivate, for almost ten years. 
McAden was occasionally assisted in the lower country by the 
Rev. James Tate, a native of Ireland, and located as a teacher 
in Wilmington, while Campbell was entirely alone until 1770, 
when the Rev. John McLeod, from the island of Sky, came to 
his help, and labored but a few years, when all previous plans 
for meeting the spiritual destitutions of this section of our State 
were entirely broken up by the incipient steps to the war of the 
Revolution. McAden had already gone to Caswell — Tate found 
it prudent to retire to the interior — Bethune, who labored in our 
western borders and organized Mount Carmel church, had fled 
to Canada — and even Campbell himself was driven from the peo- 
ple he had so faithfully served for fifteen years, by the influence 
of adverse political sentiments — while McLeod was confined as 
a ])risoner in Halifax jail. So far as our information goes, our 
denomination, at this period of our history, was without a single 
minister in all our bounds. The defeat of McDonald at Moore's 
Creek allayed the zeal and diminished the number of loyalists, 
and soon after this event, without any apparent concert, there 
■was a simultaneous move upon the part of Mr. Campbell and his 
former charge for the reestablishment of that relation wliich had 
60 long existed, and in the fulfillment of the duties of which, pas- 
tor and people had been so signally honored and blessed by God. 
Consequently he set out from Guilford, the place of his tempo- 
rary exilement, and was met by a messenger with a request from 
his former charge, that he would return and again minister to 



11 

tliem ill holy thinii;s. Like Peter and tlio clmrcli at Ccsarca, all 
obstacles in the way of their mutual spiritual iinjirovemcnt and 
happiuess had been removed. lie could say to them, "There- 
fore came I unto you, without gainsayin*^, as soon as I was sent 
for" — and they on the other hand could respond, "Now there- 
fore are we all here present before G-od, to hear all things that 
are commanded thee of God." This relation, so nuirked by tho 
special interposition of Divine providence, was dissolved only by 
death, when, having served his countrymen in a new and desti- 
tute region for more than twenty years, this good man fell asleep 
in Jesus in ITSO and in tho fifty-tirst year of his ministry. 

At the death of j\Ir. Cauijjbell, our Presbyterian population 
in this section was again without a representative among the 
clergy of the State and the church. 

To the close of the last century, the Presbyterian church made 
slow progress in this part of the Master's vineyard. In 1799 the 
Presbytery of Orange, with others, presented to the Synod of tho 
Caroliuas a report of her ministci*s and their places of preaching, 
showing the following as located in the bounds of what is now 
the Presbytery of Fayettevillc, viz: "Colin Lindsay, without 
charge; Samuel Stanford, Black liiver and Prown Marsh ; An- 
gus McDiarraid, Barbecue, Bluff and McKay's; John Gillespie, 
Centre, Laurel Hill and Eaft Swamp ; Robert Tate, South "Wash- 
ino-ton and llockfish.''* 

In all only five and one witlKMit charge. It is known, how- 
ever, that the late Dr. John llobinson succeeded McAden about 
1793, and remained in that field until his removal to Fayette- 
villc in ISOO. Dougald Crawford, a Scotch divine, succeeded 
Campbell; he organized the Raft Swamp church, the first in 
Robeson county, about the year 17S9. The Rev. Wm. Bing- 
ham, from Ireland, was located in Wilmington as teacher in 17^5. 
The Rev. W.D.Paisley, after laboring in our bounds about three 
years, removed to Guilford in 18(»0. Tradition reports a Rev. 
Mr. McCaasa to have labored both in Cumberland and Rich- 
mond. And the Rev. John Anderson, lather of Wm. C. Ander- 
son, D. D., of San Francisco, was the ])ioneer missionary in 
Moore county, and preached at Archibald Clark's, a])out one 
mile north of Buffalo church. The two last named ministers wc 



• Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, p. 301. 



1 



12 

have not seen mentioned among the early laborers in this part 
of our church. Making the most of our working and efficient 
men for more than forty years after the organization of our first 
churches, and we cannot now number more than twelve or fif- 
teen, some of whom remained a short time. At the close of the 
last century, our entire ministry did not exceed five or six in 
number. 

"With the commencement of the present century, a new era 
dawned upon our churches. A native ministry, of no ordinary 
character, was added to our strength. On the ITth of March, 
1801, at Barbecue church, Malcolm McXair, Murdoch Murphy, 
Murdoch McMillan, and Duncan Brown, Avere licensed to preach 
the Gospel. Their friend and fellow-student, Daniel Brown, was 
licensed the year previous. In a few years the zealous and inde- 
fatigable Mclntyre was added to their number, and not long af- 
terwards John M. Fox, John Murphy and ISTeill McMillan. 

These all entered the wide and destitute field that opened up 
before them, with a zeal and fidelity worthy of their higli voca- 
tion, and God crowned their labors with abundant success, both 
at home and abroad. For notwithstanding home destitutions 
were so great, McXair and Daniel Brown were commissioned by 
Synod as missionaries to the Xatchez country. From a letter of 
the latter, to his congregation in Robeson, dated Katchez, Feb- 
ruary 15tli, 1805, we have the following concise but clear repre- 
sentation of the country and its po2)ulation : 

" Of this territory, I cannot give vou a satisfactory account at present. There arc 
lands here as fertile as need be, but very broken. Society is a medley of all char- 
acters. Men of letters, of science, of polite reading, and the reverse — men of prop- 
erty, of family and of no family, thieves and murderers, honest men and some Chris- 
tians, but these arc the fewest." 

Dr. Ilall, in his missionary report to Synod in ISIO, two years 
before the constitution of our Presbytery, referring to the condi- 
tion of tlie churches and the state of religion in our bounds, says 
of "the young Scotch ministers," of whom he had already 
spoken : 

" It appears to have been a wise and happy dispensation of Providence for th.it 
part of the State, that such a set of young men were raised up and qualified to preach 
the Gospel immediately before the commencement of the revival, especially as they 
were able to preach in both the English and Gaelic languages. "Wherever they have 
been placed the revival has predominated under tlicir ministry. And notwithstand- 
ing the many thousands of miles your missionary has travelled during the last ten 



m 

years, he has not been iu any place where religion has flourished more, nor the pow. 
cr of it kept up with more energy, than under their ministrations."* 

Under the influence of such a ministry, our church organiza- 
tion had increased up to lSi2, the date of the commencement of 
our presbyterial existence, to about thirty in number, while our 
ministerial strength was only nine all told. 

The next twenty years added a few churches and only seven 
ministers to the original number. Since that period, about twen- 
ty-six years, our church organizations have gone up in number 
to fifty-eight and the ministers to twenty-four. During the last 
quarter of a century, the entire ministry in the State has increased 
in numbers from sixty-live to eighty-eight, while the ministerial 
strength of our sister State, South Carolina, for the same time, 
has increased from about forty -live to about one hundred in 
number, 

"When the Presbytery of Hanover was constituted, about the 
time McAden lirst visited our Statcj it consisted of only seven 
members, with the whole of Vii'ginia and the indefinite South as 
its field of labor. When the Presbytery of Orange was set oflT 
from that of Hanover, fifteen years afterwards, covering the coun- 
try south of ^^irginia and west of the Mississippi, it consisted of 
six members. In the same bounds tliere are now seven Synods, 
thirty-one Presbyteries, seven hundred and eighty-eight churches, 
four hundred and eighty-nine ministers, and fifty-two thousand 
four hundred and twenty-nine communicants. 

Our church, as a whole, since the formation of the first Pres- 
bytery on the American continent, one hundred and fifty-one 
years ago, has extended her borders from sea to sea^ reached 
forth her arms to the perishing nations of the earth, distributed 
tiie bread of life in the four quarters of the globe, and success- 
fully established her organization in the dark domains of pagan- 
ism. If we include the Missionary Synod of Xorthern India, 
she now numbers 33 synods, 159 presbyteries, 2,408 ministers, 
3,321: churches, 250 licentiates, and 259,335 communicants, the 
sum total of whose contributions, for the last year, amounts to 
more than two millions and a half of dollars, ($2,54:4,01)2.) 

From a careful consideration of facts and figures, it is pain- 
fullv evident that whether we cominire ourselves with our neijrli- 
boi-s, or with the church in general, we have not come up to the 

• Foote's Sketches, &c., p. 470. 



14 

full measure of duty among the allied hosts of the God of Jacob. 

The main cause of this onhj jMrt'tal success existed before our 
organization as a Presbytery, and it still exists to a greater or 
less extent. Facts and arguments might be adduced to yrove 
that our population are not, and never have been truly alive to 
their own resources— physical, intellectual, and moral: conse- 
quently home talent and capacity has never been fully appre- 
ciated nor adequately developed. 

Our native ministry has been driven from our midst without 
the presentation of motives adequate to induce a foreign supply. 
Of the promising young men already mentioned, who entered 
the ministry early in the present century, more than half had 
left our bounds before the commencement of our Presbyterial 
existence in 1812, and only two ended their ministerial work in 
the State. All the rest went forth to bless other portions of our 
Zion, to be loved and honored by strangei-s, and to reflect im- 
perishable glory and renown upon the 'very people among whom 
they were bred and born, and upon the very State whence they 
were driven out. Of the sixteen ministers that constituted our 
Presbytery twenty-six years ago, seven left the State. Taking 
up the record as it comes to hand, we find that of the twenty 
two ministers and four licentiates that belonged to our Presby- 
tery in 1844, ten have left the State, and all except two native 
born. 

No association of men, with such a draft upon its working 
force, in the ordinary Providence of God, can possibly meet the 
ends of tlieir society, discharge fully the duties incident to their 
•organization, and thus secure to God the greatest revenue of 
glory, and to themselves and the race the highest degree of hap- 
piness here and hereafter. 

Nor is the evil of which Ave complain confined to the Presby- 
tery of Fayetteville ; its withering, blighting inliuence, on the 
Presbyterian Church may be seen and felt, throughout the State. 
If we compare her history and condition with that of the same 
church in the adjacent States, North and South, we find that 
■while the Synod of North Carolina reports to the General As- 
«embly forty-four churches and about two thousand (1948) com- 
municants more than the Synod of South Carolina, yet the latter 
has nine ministers more than the former ; and while the S,)mod 
of North Carolina reports twenty-fom- churches and over three 



l.') 

thousand communicants (35^3) more tlian tlie Synod of Virnjinia,. 
yet Virginia lias twenty-one ministers more than Xurtli Carolina. 
The most remarkal)le fact is, that Xortli Carolina furnishes more 
candidates for the ministry than either of her sister States. AVhilo 
she reports seventeen candidates, South Carolina reports sixteen 
and Virginia twelve. Nor is this majority accidental ; from the 
record we learn that in 1S44- Xorth Carolina reported twenty-two 
candidates, Virginia twenty; in 1S48 North Carolina re-ported 
fourteen candidates, Virginia eight ; in 1S."J1 North Carolina re- 
ported twenty-one candidates, Vii-ginia eleven; and in isr»8, as 
stated. North Carolina reported seventeen candidates, Virginia 
twelve. 

AVhy should the Presljytcrian cluirch in North Carolina for a 
long series of years, turnish much the lai'gest nnmher of candi- 
dates for the ministrv, and witli much the largest number of 
churches and communicants, still have a much snuiller number 
of ministers than either of her sister States!; J)id time permit, 
this interrogatory might be answered by facts and figures which 
Avould drive us to some very humiliating conclusions. 

WJiile, however, we lament the main evil that has already ex- 
isted among our people, an evil which they only can correct, 
which they ought to correct, and which ultimately they will cor- 
rect, and the consetpient j^artial success that has marked the 
history of the church in North Carolina, we have much to 
cheer our hearts and beckon us on to duty. All things consid- 
ered, as a Preshijtery^ we maintain our relative position in a 
Synod, that in point of numerical standing on the roll of the 
Presbyterian church, nmlcs oidy the eleventh as to her ministry, 
while in reference to her church (»rgani/>ation, she stands as the 
fourth, and as to her membership as the fifth. And while no- 
presbytery in the land can point to fewer titled men, sure wear© 
that none can boast of a membei-ship so universally devoted to 
the practical duties of their high vocation. 

Thus, my brethren, we have recurred to the days of old, and 
considered the history of the years of n>any generations ; we have 
gone to our fathers, many of whom, though now dead, still speak 
to us by their indefatigable labors, their self-consuming Zealand 
amazing success. AVe have gone to the living — the fathers and 
the elders who are still with us, they have t(tld us; and the sta 
tistics we have presented show what God has done for us as a 



16 

■church in the hundred years that have passed, and what he has ac- 
complished hy lis, as a presbytery, in the forty-six years of our 
presbyterial existence. 

jSText to the Great Head of the church, to whom all the honor 
and glory is due for that measure of success which has crowned 
our eliorts and labors, both as a church and as a ministry, we 
should honor most the fathers and the elders, who in troublous 
times laid the broad foundation of our present ecclesiastical or- 
ganization. We, tlieir descendants, are here assembled to ex- 
press a just appreciation of their labors, and to raise a monument, 
not Tnerely to perpetuate the memory, of the man, who in the 
providence of God preceded all others in this great and glorious 
work, but to mark an important epoch in the history of the Pres- 
byterian church in North Carolina, 

Finally, it is not permitted to man to pry into the secret pur- 
pose of God. ]!so tongue can tell, no finite intelligence can con- 
ceive what a century more will bring forth. The work still be- 
fore the church is immense: "Go ye into all the world and 
preach the Gospel to every creature." This solemn injunction, 
uttered moi-e than eighteen hundred years ago, has lost none of 
its force ; and although by far the greater part of the land to be 
possessed lies still heyond., yet we are greatly encouraged by the 
retrospect of the past. When we recur to the ante-American his- 
tory of the Presbyterian church, and "remember the days of 
old," and follow her record "through the years of many genera- 
tions," especially from the introduction of Christianity into Scot- 
land, down through the bloody persecution that reigned more 
than a quarter of a century, in which more than 20,000 of the 
noblest and purest of Scotland's sons suifered by death, impris- 
onment or exile, and which signalized its close in 16S8 by the 
martyi-dom of the sainted Ilenwick; and if we consider that his- 
tory thnnigh the alternate scenes of success and suffering in the 
persecutions of Ireland and Scotland, towards the middle of the 
last century, wliich did so much to ])lant Presbyterianism in 
America, and especially in Xorth Carolina; and if we still con- 
sider the history of the same church in this country to the pre- 
sent time, we will be obliged to discover the very striking anal- 
ogy that exists between God's providential dealings with us as a 
people and with his ancient covenanted church, and sure we are 
that there is no more special providence in the one case than in 



17 

the otlicr, for "for the Lord's portion is liis people, Jacob is tlie 
lot of his inheritaiiee." 

But never, until the establishment of our national indepen- 
dence, since the earliest and bri^litest centuries of tiie church, 
has Presbvterianism had an open field for the full development 
of her principles, and a fair o{)])«)rtunity to exhibit to uuuikiud 
the practical operation of her republican government. 

"The most careless observer cannot fail to be struck with the remarkable resem- 
blance which exists between the model of our church government and that of our 
civil institutions ; and it is not unworthy of being kept in mind, that some of the dis- 
tinguished men who aitled in forming the consiitution of the United States, were at 
the same time engaged in digesting the form of government of the Presbyterian 
church In this country. This close resemblance, it is obvious, must always give our 
system a powerful hold on the aU'ections of our countrymen, and quicken in the bo- 
eoms of our people the sentiment of patriotism by a coincidence, at one so striking 
and so ffrateftil.^^* 

And what if we should be allowed to refer to the progress of 
religion in the United States, and to the combined intluence of 
evangelical Christians upon our common country since our na- 
tional independence, which covers a period greater only by thir- 
ty-six years than our prcsbyterial existence, lo ! what hath God 
wrought — what a change has come over our land — to say no- 
thing of our ]>hysical and civil advancement. Instead of a pop- 
ulation of three millions and a half, we now number more than 
20,000,000 of immortal souls: Instead of one minister to 2,000, 
we now have one to every one thousand. Instead of 2,000 
churches, we now have more than 40,000. Instead of 1,400 min- 
isters, we now have more than 20,000. Instead of contending 
for State patronage and the miserable pittance extracted from 
our citizens for tlic support of religion, we now have a church 
property amounting in value to not less than $00,000,000. And 
by the free and unrestrained influence of religious liberty, Amer- 
ican Christians, for the last few years, have contributed annually 
fur benevolent and pious purposes, at ht»me and al>road, not less 
than $12,000,000. 

Xor is this all. To say notliing of our educational operations, 
as conducted by our common, ]>rimary and classical schools, 
there are more than one hundred and sixty colleges in the Union, 
all of wliich, except some ten or twelve, are unck'r the religious 
influence and patronage of some religious denomination. Nor 

• Dr. R. J. Breckinridge. 

8 



18 

is tliis all. Xo minister of the Gospel, no friend of religion, no 
enlightened statesman or pati-iot will gainsay the position, that 
the American church as a whole, and every branch of that 
church, and the Presbyterian family especially, can more than 
double or even quadruple its contributions, and thus secure an- 
nually to the cause of piety and benevolence $21,000,000 or $48,- 
000,000, and still realize more fully than ever before the truth 
of the divine declaration, that "it is more blessed to give than to 
receive," "there is that scattereth and yet increaseth," and "he 
that watereth shall be M-atered again." 

If we can set no bounds to the prosperity of a county like ours, 
so distinguished and blessed in this goodly heritage which God 
has given us, " with its extended territory, its virgin soil, its lakes 
and majestic rivei'S, its subterranean stores, and all its boundless 
sources of prosperity, looking forth, as it does, upon two oceans, 
touching the wealth of Europe with its right hand and Asia with 
its left, covering every sea with its commerce, and destined in its 
midway station to be the thoroughfare of nations,"* then surely 
we should set no bounds to our religious charities, our Christian 
benevolence and philanthropic efforts. 

We feel, my brethren, that we have a ri(/ht, under the circum- 
stances, thus to speakof the American church and of the combined 
influence of her religious denominations upon our common coun- 
try and the woi-ld, when we review the religious history of the 
nation for the last twelve months, the character and results of 
the revival that has been felt in a greater or less degree in every 
part of the land, confined to no particular denomination in its 
spiritual life-giving influence, unlike every other great work of 
grace in the history of Christendom, not only not associated with 
the name of any mortal man as the honored instrument in the 
hands of God in bringing it about and continuing its power, but 
no denomination, no religious sect can lay claim to such honor 
and distinction. There is no Luther, Calvin, Knox, "Wesley, 
"Whitfield or Edwards connected with this amazing work of Di- 
vine grace. It is emphatically a new era in the religions history 
of the nation. It is the revival of the American churches, and 
on an occasion like the present, which signalizes the introduction 
and establishment of an important branch of the church of Christ 
in this section of the country, it is not only allowable but it is 

* Dr. Howe. 



19 

higlily proper tliat we slionld chroniclo a year like tlie past — a 
year tliat lias witnessed the briii<^inor from nature's darkness to 
the marvellous light of the glory of the Son of God, more of our 
people than any previous year of our national history. 

Let us not rely upon any onc^ or upon all the means and agen- 
cies combined, which have been mentioned, for ultimate success. 
They are only means to an end, and are bo by the appointment 
of God: "It is not by might, nor by j)Ower, but by my Spirit, 
paith the Lord,'' who alone can make the appointed means of 
grace, the power and the wisdom of God, in the salvation of our 
apostate world; and when by the mighty power of the IToly 
Ghost, the four quarters of the globe, Europe, Asia, Africa and 
America, will have been brought to a saving knowledge of the 
truth as it is in Jesus, tht^n and not till then will the church have 
finished her work, and be presented to the Lord without blem- 
ish, not having spot, wrinkle or any such thing. Then, too, will 
the earth pay her highest tribute to the temporal happiness of 
man: "Then shall the earth yield her increase, and God, even 
our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us and all the ends of the 
earth shall fear him.'' Then the ])ious sentiment of the devout 
Psalmist will be heard from every tongue, " Let the people praise 
thee, O God, let all the people praise thee.'' 



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